Apparatus for treating felt-hat bodies.



No. 686,460. Patented Nov. l2, IQUI.

C. E. KEATDR.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FELT HAT BODIES. (Application filed July 23, won

(No Model.)

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Hi6 ATTORNEYJ,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

CHARLES E. KEATOR, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO DUNLAPAND COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N.

NEW YORK.

Y., A CORPORATION OF APPARATUS FOR TREATING FELT-HAT BODIES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 686,460, dated November12, 1901.

Application filed July 23, 1901.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. KEATOR, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, resid ing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings,State of New York, have invented Apparatus for Treating Felt-Hat Bodies,of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of felt hats the conical hat-bodies after having beenshrunk are stiffened by being impregnated with a solution or solutionsof shellac or other suitable stiffening substance, and subsequently thesurface coating of this stiffener is dissolved or cleared off thehat-bodies by dipping :5 them in a hot solution of soda or othersuitable solvent. In the making of stiff felt hats it has been customaryto clear the hat-bodies in two steps-that is, to first dip the brimpart, moving it about in the solution, and

then to immerse the whole hat-body. This is a slow operation at best andis especially so because it requires the operator to give his wholeattention to one hat-body at a time. The operation is alsoobjectionable, because it is difiicult to handle the hat-body in such away that the inside of the hat-body will be cleared as uniformly as theoutside and as free from defects.

The object of my invention is to provide an apparatus which will permitthe hat-bodies to be handled expeditiously and cleared uniformly insideand out.

My present apparatus is especially useful for the clearing of hatbodieswhich have 3 5 been stifiened by an improved process which I havedevised and which permits of the clearin g of the hat-bodies by a singlecomplete immersion of the bodies; but the apparatus is also useful forclearing felt-hat bodies which have been stiffened in other ways. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of aclearing-tank provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view; andFig. 3 is a transverse section 5 on the line 3 3, Fig. 1.

A is an open-top rectangular tank which is to be filled nearly to thebrim with the solution of soda or other suitable solvent, and provisionis made for keeping the solution hot by having a valved steam-pipe Bopen- Serial No. 69,401. (No model.)

ing into the bottom of the tank. At a suitable distance from the bottomof the tank there is arranged a perforated false bottom or horizontalscreen D, the depth from the normal level of the liquid and this screenbeing greater than the height of the conical hat-bodies to be treated.

In connection with the tank I provide a series of devices for immersingthe hat-bodies point downward and for maintaining them in an openconical shape while they are immersed. In the drawings I have shown foursuch devices, each consisting of a cross-strip E long enough to reachover the opposite edges of the tank and carrying upon one face an openconical cage F, which may consist simply of two bent Wires ff, standingin planes at right angles to each other and to the plane of thecross-strip. Each conical cage is longer than the height of thehat-body, but not long enough to reach quite down to the screen D whenthe cross-strips E rest upon the sides of the tank.

The desired clearing solution in the tank having been made ready, theoperator takes a conical hat-body C and, holding it over the solutionwith the tip or nose downward, takes a cross-strip and puts its conicalcage F into the open end of the hat-body, and by means of this devicepresses the hat-body down into the solution, as shown at the left ofFig. 1, until the hat-body has been wholly immersed, as shown in thecase of the other hat-bodies in the drawings. The opposite ends of thecross-strip then rest upon the opposite sides of the tank, and thehat-body will then rest with its nose upon the screen D; but the cage Fwill not only keep the hat-body in position, but will also keep it open,so that the solution can act equally on the inside as on the outside ofthe hat-body. The operator then immerses another hat-body with thesecond cross-strip and cage, and so on. By the time he has immersed thefourth hat-body in this 7 way the first one is ready to be removed fromthe solution, and this is done with the aid of an assistant, who, as theoperator lifts 0d the first cross-strip and cage, quickly fishes out thehat-body with a stick before the body has time to collapse and get lost,as it were. Im- Ioo mediately the operator can immerse a fresh hat-bodywith the first cross-strip and cage.

It will be readily seen that with this apparatus a large quantity ofhat-bodies can be cleared with great expedition and with greatuniformity. Furthermore, I have found that hat-bodies cleared by meansof this apparatus are freer from defects than those cleared by the oldhand methods and that if a defect is found on the outside of thehat-body the inside will be found so well cleared that the hat-body canbe turned and finished inside out.

I claim as my invention 1. The herein-described appliance for use inclearing felt-hat bodies, said appliance consisting of the combinationof an open tank with means for immersing the hat-bodies tip downward inthe solution in the tank and holding them open while immersed.

2. The herein-described appliance for use in clearing felt-hat bodies,said appliance consisting of the combination of an open tank with aseries of cross-strips, carrying cages to fit inside the hat-bodies toimmerse them and keep them open while immersed.

3. The herein-described appliance for use in clearing felt-hat bodies,said appliance consisting of the combination of an open tank with aseries of cross-strips carrying open conical wire cages, as and for thepurpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. E. KEATOR. Witnesses:

WALTER A. BAYER, F. WARREN WRIGHT.

